The present invention relates to a portable electronic apparatus of the type allowing the user thereof to select a desired function and more particularly to a portable electronic apparatus capable of guiding the user thereof to an operating method matching with a desired function.
A handy phone belonging to a family of portable electronic apparatuses has various functions and requires the user of the phone to select each function by operating keys in a particular manner. This complicates the operation of the handy phone and makes it difficult for the user to acquire an operating method function by function by perusing an operation manual. Moreover, it is impractical for the user of the phone to carry an operation manual at all times. In such circumstances, there is an increasing demand for a handy phone capable of guiding the user to an operating method matching with the individual function without resorting to an operation manual.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 5-35682 discloses a portable information storing device including a guidance memory storing operation guidance information function by function and step by step, a memory for managing the progress of the operation step, and display for displaying the guidance information read out of the memory in accordance with the progress of the operation step. The information storing device additionally includes a key input section on which a NEXT key and a SET key are arranged together with other keys. In a certain stage of operation, next item selection processing and registration processing are available as two different operation items. The user of the device has to press the NEXT key to select the next item or press the SET key to register a desired item. Specifically, the device displays the following guide information:                Next item with “NEXT” key.        Register with “SET” key.        
The above information storing device guides the user by displaying particular guidance information in each operation step. The device therefore allows even an untrained person to operate the device in an adequate manner. However, the device displays even the names of the keys for implementing each operation step and therefore needs a number of characters to display. That is, in the above specific stage of operation, the device has to display not only the character sequences “next item” and “register” but also character sequences “with “NEXT” key” and “with “SET” key”. This kind of apparatus is therefore not feasible for a portable electronic apparatus including a small size display.
Technologies relating to the present invention are also disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. 5-83350, 7-250135, 8-65746, 9-149105, 8-255067, 9-321839, 10-23117, and 10-97368.